Pamono Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Pantomime, 1898, Original Lithograph

Henri-Gabriel Ibels (1867–1936)

Pantomime

Original Lithograph from the glorious portfolio “L’Estampe Moderne”, issue #16 (August 1898)

On wove paper

Year: 1898

Size (sheet): 305 x 405 mm
Size (image): 262 x 350 mm

Signed bottom left

Blind stamp of the publisher, bottom right, out of the image

Excellent condition: minor signs of age and handling
Great colours
Full margins (not cropped, not trimmed)

About the Collection (L’Estampe Moderne)

L’Estampe Moderne appeared in 1897-1899 as a series of 24 monthly fascicles, each containing 4 original lithographs, printed by Parisian Imprimerie Champenois. Many accomplished European Art Nouveau painters contributed works to this publication, which contained only Original prints invented and produced especially for this collection. The publication was edited by Charles Masson and H. Piazza. Each issue came in a paper cover bearing an original lithograph by Alphonse Mucha.
Each lithograph was accompanied by a tissue containing the details (title of the artwork, name of the artist, etc.) and a short text by a well-known author who inspired the artist (this one being by Paul Verlaine).
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About the artist

Henri-Gabriel Ibels (1867–1936) was a French illustrator, printmaker, painter and author.

He was born in Paris and studied at the Académie Julian along with artists such as Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. At the beginning of the term at the Académie Julian, Paul Sérusier gathered his friends around, including Ibels, and gave them the name Nabis. This is a Hebrew word for “prophet” and Ibels was a member since its 1889 founding. Though he was a part of the Société de Indépendants “from a young age,” he made his debut during the Nabi movement. Other members included Bonnard, Vuillard, Félix Vallotton, Maurice Denis, Paul Sérusier, and Émile Bernard. Their early works consisted of bright colours and vibrant contour lines. Some of their goals were to reintroduce painting as a decorative art and make it part of everyday life. As his inspiration here, he used labor workers that he ran into at local bistros.

Along with painting, Ibels mastered the techniques and aesthetics of printmaking and a style suited for lithography for book illustration commissions, sheet-music covers, and advertisements. His participation in the Belle Epoque color revolution in lithography, for example, assisted in the development of Jules Cheret’s use of the multi-chromatic processes, an art practice that overlapped colors in an attempt to create more depth and shade in print. His career was marked in 1891 when he took part in Les Nabis’ exhibitions at Le Barc de Boutteville gallery, “Impressionist and Symbolist Painters.” with Vuillard and Denis he soon caught the public eye and earned the nickname ‘le Nabis journaliste’. Ibels earned this nickname as he frequently made regular publications to numerous newspapers and magazines. His main focus was drawing and lithography. He was passionate, loved the form of theater and entertainment, and attacked bourgeois values. Ibels is known for his skillfully crafted and precise lines. Inspired by contemporary life, Ibels’ work consisted of subjects drawn from modern Paris such as the cafe, boxing rings, and the circus. The characteristics in subject and technique of simplistic colors and shapes within his work can also be likened to artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Adolphe Willette, and Theophile Alexandre Steinlen.

Ibels collaborated with Toulouse-Lautrec, with whom he developed a personal relationship and professional camaraderie. Henri-Gabriel painted various fans and one was similar to the style of Toulouse-Lautrec who used the theme of clowns in his paintings and lithographs. This resulted in a friendship as they would go to the circus together frequently for hours. This is where he would get his starting points for his drawings and pictures. He developed a style in his profiles of clowns, circus houses, and acrobats. In 1893, they also produced lithographs together for an album titled The Café-Concert. Toulouse-Lautrec would then become the godfather to Ibels’ son and the two artists would remain friends until his death in 1901

from the text on the tissue paper, by Jules Breton:

Léandre le sot,
Pierrot qui d’un saut
De puce
Franchit le buisson,
Cassandre sous son
Capuce,

Arlequin aussi,
Cet aigrefin si
Fantasque
Aux costumes fous,
Ses yeux luisants sous
Son masque,

— Do, mi, sol, mi, fa, —
Tout ce monde va,
Rit, chante
Et danse devant
Une belle enfant
Méchante

Dont les yeux pervers
Comme les yeux verts
Des chattes
Gardent ses appas
Et disent : « A bas
Les pattes ! »

— Eux ils vont toujours ! —
Fatidique cours
Des astres,
Oh ! dis-moi vers quels
Mornes ou cruels
Désastres

L’implacable enfant,
Preste et relevant
Ses jupes,
La rose au chapeau,
Conduit son troupeau
De dupes ?

Important:

. The listing is for the original print, in the above mentioned very good / excellent condition.
. The original tissue paper introduction has some folds and tears, especially along the margins, and it will be given as is to the buyer as a gift for confirming the authenticity.
. The cover by Mucha is shown as a reference